I pitched my sports tech company Starting 11 during the 2017 Twin Cities Startup Week Women's Pitch Fest. I gave a 3-minute pitch to an audience of over 300 people at the University of Minnesota McNamara Center on October 9. The Pitch Fest took place after the Minnesota Cup competition finale event, where Starting 11 was honored as the High Tech Division Winner (taking home 30K in prize money).

The third annual Women’s Pitch Fest, hosted by WE*, featured 18 women entrepreneurs and was organized by Capita3.

I founded Good Food Boom to answer the questions I hear over and over again from food entrepreneurs.

Savvy food entrepreneurs need to know enough about the law to make sure it doesn't interfere with their business. You need to know when it's worth it to pay for legal advice and when you could risk doing some legal DIY.

You want to protect your product, your brand name, and you countless hours of sweat equity. You want the peace of mind that comes with knowing you have your legal ducks in a row.

I've helped hundreds of food entrepreneurs achieve clarity on these issues over the years. But there is only one of me, and only so many consults I can offer or speaking engagements I can take. That's why Good Food Boom exists.

Good Food Boom will be a stockpile of legal and business firepower for food entrepreneurs nationwide. The goal is to help your food business explode -- in a good way. I look forward to helping you learn how to grow and protect your business. Send me your questions!

I recently traveled to Mauritius as a legal consultant to a United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) project to support the African island nation's transition to organic farming.

In my capacity as the International Consultant on Organic Agriculture Legislation, I am helping Ministry of Agro-Industry officials and a national team of consultants to create a new national law regulating organic production, processing and marketing in Mauritius (similar to the USDA organic standards in the United States).

As the next step in the project, I will help finalize the new Mauritius organic agriculture legislation and assist with the creation of organic implementing regulations.

I recently spoke at my alma mater, the University of Michigan Law School. The Michigan Food Law and Policy Association invited me to speak about my career, my food law practice, and my advice for law students interested in working with agricultural and food entrepreneur clients.

I was joined by my husband and fellow Michigan Law graduate Teague Orgeman, a litigation partner at the Stoel Rives law firm in Minneapolis.

I recently traveled to Mauritius as a legal consultant to a United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) project to support the African island nation's transition to organic farming.

I gave keynote address during an opening ceremony with the Mauritius Minister of Agro-Industry and Food Security, Mahen Seeruttun. I spoke about creating trust within an organic system through strong institutions and support for farmers.

I also provided a day-long training session to organic stakeholders and ministry officials on international organic agriculture law and best practices. Even better, I got to visit an organic vegetable farm and participate in meetings and a working group session designed to make initial decisions on the direction of the Mauritius legislation.

As a next step, I'll draft the framework for the new Mauritius organic agriculture law and travel to Mauritius in 2017 to work with stakeholders to finalize the new legislation.

I'm glad to be part of Midwest Pantry's new education + networking series: Midwest Pantry Meetups.

During the meetup (beer hopefully in hand), I will answer food entrepreneurs' legal questions. It's the July 20 Midwest Pantry Meetup at Urban Growler from 6 p.m. to 9 p.m. Come have a drink and get your burning questions answered!

As part of a United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) project, an international team is working to support the development of an organic agriculture marketing system in the African island nation of Mauritius. In my capacity as the team's International Legal Consultant, I will be advising the Mauritian government regarding the creation of organic agriculture legislation in Mauritius.

The project's goal is to increase the island nation's food security by increasing domestic food production and the provision of goods and services from agriculture, forestry and fisheries in a sustainable manner.

I'm supported by law student researchers at the fabulous Vermont Law School Center for Agriculture and Food Systems, and will work with stakeholders and attorneys in Mauritius to strengthen the policies, laws, management frameworks and institutions that are needed to transition the country to a system of organic production and marketing.

I participated in a panel of four fantastic women discussing available resources and tools for women entrepreneurs that relate to the legal, financial, educational, investment, and operational aspects of scaling a business.

Panelists included leaders from the Sofia Fund, Capita 3, Geekettes, WomenVenture, COCO, Minnesota Cup, and the University of Minnesota. Learn more about WE* at westart.mn.

Recognizing the need to increase the number of scalable women-owned startups, MN Cup recently launched the Power of WE+: Women in Entrepreneurship at the 3rd annual Women in Entrepreneurship Conference.

WE+ will work to raise awareness around the great people and resources that exist to support women entrepreneurs, including women foodpreneurs. Join me and a panel of fantastic women entrepreneurs and advisers for the WE Scale: The 5 Ws of Resourcing Your Startup panel and networking event at CoCo Minneapolis on May 18.

More workshop details:

WE Scale: The 5 Ws of Resourcing Your Startup: If you are a woman entrepreneur focused on building a scalable, high-growth potential startup, then this is a workshop you won’t want to miss. Through a "WE" (Women Entrepreneurs) collaboration of women united by the goal of seeing more women develop, scale and lead new ventures in Minnesota, we've pulled together a panel of women who are ready to discuss the local and national resources that exist to support women entrepreneurs. We’ll cover the questions you’re asking about scaling your company: What is available to me? Where should I go? Who should I work with? When do I raise capital? … with a primary focus on “what” is available.

I participated in a lively panel discussion on financing and strategic partnerships moderated by Sofia Fund CEO Cathy Connett. The panel also included Erin Newkirk, founder of Red Stamp, and Andrea Walsh of Health Partners. Monica Nassif, founder of Mrs. Meyers and Caldrea, was the keynote speaker for the conference.

It was great to see so many energized women entrepreneurs at the conference, and kudos to MN Cup Director Melissa Kjolsing for leading and executing the event.

I was honored to speak at Harvard Law School on Oct. 3 as part of a panel entitled "Movers and Shakers in Food Law and Policy." The panel discussion was part of the inaugural Harvard Food Law Student Leadership Summit hosted by the Harvard Food Law and Policy Clinic.

Summit participants heard from national experts about key food law and policy issues related to the environment, health, food safety, and food waste; discussed ways to build a national network of food law and policy colleagues; and worked to develop coordinated strategies for addressing some of society’s most pressing food law and policy concerns.

I addressed the law behind the latest headline­-making news about what we eat and drink during a webcast course that aired via Minnesota CLE on September 30. The presentation covered the Just Mayo labeling controversy, the Chipotle Non­GMO class action, and the most recent state and federal GMO labeling laws and litigation.

Thanks to the expert panelists, food entrepreneur attendees, and MN Cup Semi-Finalists for making our Twin Cities Startup Week event a huge success! A panel of local food business experts shared resources, expertise, and entrepreneurial life lessons with a sold­-out audience of food entrepreneurs. The crowd stayed for almost an hour after the event, networking and making new business connections. A big thank you to our distinguished panelists:

Over 900 people attended the Minneapolis-St. Paul Business Journal event on May 28 honoring 51 industry-­leading executives and entrepreneurs for their professional achievements, leadership qualities, and contributions to the broader Twin Cities community.